From Theory To Practice

Last semester for my design of learning environments class, I designed a simulation based learning environment for first and second year medical students. I'm writing my masters paper on the use of mannequin simulation in medical schools and came across a few articles about simulation programs that teach the basic science concepts (typically taught during the first two years of medical school via lectures) via the use of simulation. I was intrigued by this concept and decided to apply it to Penn's curriculum.

Thinking back to my own experience as a first year medical student I imagined how simulation might have benefitted me. Basically, one of the issues I had with the first year and a half of medical school was how devoid of patient care it was. Sure we were learning a bunch of information that we'd later be able to apply to patient care, but in the moment there was very little application. Consequently it was more challenging to solidify that information in my head. Thus I designed a simulation based accompaniment to the basic science curriculum that helps students to integrate what they're learning in lecture with practical applications.

The idea was to take basic science concepts that students typically struggle with and design a simulation that exemplifies that concept. Students will work through these simulations and debrief them in their pre-existing learning teams so they will also be able to process skills such as teamwork, closed loop communication and handling stressful pressure-filled situations with grace in addition to having another modality to learn complicated concepts.

I've begun the process of proposing it to the administration and so far it has been very well received. it is still in the preliminary stages, but I'm hopeful that we could get it off the ground and running for next fall's first year class. Not a bad turn around for an end of semester project...